Want to Be an Astronaut? NASA Seeking More Space Travelers

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Good news for those who think they've got the right stuff: NASA
opened the application process for its next astronaut class today
(Nov. 15).

The space agency will accept
applications for the next class, which will be the 21st group
of spaceflyers in its history, through Jan. 27, 2012, then begin
a lengthy and highly competitive screening process. NASA expects
to announce its final selections in March 2013, and the newly
minted spaceflyers will report to Johnson Space Center in Houston
for training that summer, agency officials said.

While astronauts in the 21st class won't fly on
NASA's now-retired shuttle fleet, there will be plenty of
opportunities to get to the International Space Station — and
perhaps destinations in deeper space, officials said.

"Some of the astronauts we're recruiting today will be pioneers
in our missions to make the first footprints on the surface of
Mars," NASA chief Charlie Bolden said during a briefing today.

A thinning astronaut corps

NASA tends to recruit a new astronaut class every two to four
years, to maintain a deep enough pool of spaceflyers, officials
said.

NASA counted 150 active spaceflyers in its ranks in 1999. Many
astronauts have retired or left the agency for jobs elesewhere
since then, and as a result that number has fallen to 61 in 2011,
according to a recent report by the U.S. National Research
Council.

Some of those who left the astronaut corps may have been worried
about their chances to get back into space soon. For one thing,
construction of the $100 billion International Space Station,
which required the efforts of many astronauts over the last 13
years, is now complete. [ 7
Notable Space Shuttle Astronauts ]

However, the station is slated to operate through at least 2020,
and perhaps until 2028. So there will be a need for astronauts to
perform research and live aboard the orbiting lab for a long time
to come, officials said.

While the shuttle's retirement left NASA completely dependent on
Russian Soyuz vehicles to get its spaceflyers to the station and
back, that could change by the middle of the decade. The agency
is encouraging
American private spaceflight firms to take over this taxi
service, and it wants at least some of them to be up and running
by 2015 or so.

"As we enter this new era of commercial spaceflight, there will
be even more opportunities for those of you who want to fly,"
Bolden said.

For its part, NASA is working to get astronauts to an asteroid by
2025, then on to Mars by the mid-2030s. It's developing a capsule
called the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and a huge rocket
called the Space Launch System to help get them there.

So the options for future astronauts look to be numerous and
varied, according to Bolden.

"Human spaceflight is alive and well at NASA," Bolden said. "With
the end of the shuttle program, we're now setting our sights on
even more distant horizons. We're once again ready to go where no
man or woman has gone before."

Becoming an astronaut

Those interested in applying for NASA's next astronaut class can
do so by visiting www.usajobs.gov. Minimum
qualifications include a bachelor's degree in science,
engineering or mathematics, as well as at least three years of
relevant professional experience.

Don't expect to just sail through the application process. The
space agency tends to pick literal or figurative high-flyers —
people who have experience operating jet aircraft or who are
highly accomplished in their respective fields.

Rigorous indeed. NASA reviewed more than 3,500 applications
before picking nine astronauts for its 20th spaceflyer class in
2009.

After selection, astronauts undergo training that lasts several
years and is also extremely challenging, Kavandi added. Not
everyone will make it through.

"If you're selected and you make it through that process, the
experience is well worth the wait, I think," Kavandi said.
"Anyone who's been to space can say that it was definitely worth
all the hard work to get there."

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on
Twitter:@michaeldwall.
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